Customer Reviews

Stanley and Sophie

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is unforgettable. Yes--it's a dog book. But it is really a memoir by an author who cares about animals. Stanley and Sophie, two rescued border terriers, will break your heart as they create total chaos in the author's tiny New York living room. The dogs are adored, but not romanticized. They are real. In contrast, the author takes us on a trip to Indonesia and introduces us to Chico and Cheeky, two monkeys who become the light of her life. For them, unlike Stanley and Sophie, there is no freedom. Jennings asks tough questions about all kinds of animals. She answers the questions too. The writing in this book will make you wake up.

As a proud owner of a my second Border Terrier, I purchased this book to read about other Borders. It turned out to be a book about an opinionated, self indulgent, psuedo intellectual who didn't even keep her dogs. She "loved" them so much that she gave them away!! If you want to read about Border Terriers this isn't the book for you, if you want to read about the views and life of Kate Jennings, buy this book. The book was a huge dissapointment.

This slim and potent book is a small masterpiece--and is a gift for all who have loved and lost, loved again and lost again and keep on going, all the better and worse for it. "Stanley & Sophie" is surely going to send, as author Kate Jennings repeats with bittersweet sureness, fishhooks into your heart. The two border terriers who are the subjects of the book are more than that: they are the conveyances of the lot of human emotions that connect us to everything around us; anyone who has fallen in love with a dog will understand why Kate Jennings was compelled to write their story.

This book is mostly about someone who should NOT own a border terrier. Thank goodness her friends stepped in and rescued the dogs from her. Half of the book is about monkeys in Bali. From someone who has a 13 year old border terrier, avoid this book.

If you want to read a book that's impossible to put down, that tugs
at your heart, and reveals a woman's raw psyche, all the while
delighting you with the prankish mischief and affections of two border
terriers, then Stanley & Sophie is for you. It's rare to find such great
writing, much less emotional honesty in a memoir. And what a marvelous and
compelling tribute to love in all its manifestations.

If you like sharp, insightful, unsentimental writing, then you'll like this book. Yes, the dogs are charming...but don't let that trick you into thinking this is a predictable "my-dog-is-so-cute-let-me-tell-you-exactly-how" memoir. Rather, it paints a broad picture of life as actually lived using a carefully controlled brush, taking you inside the life and mind of the writer. Frankly, I'm baffled by the PW reviewer's comment that Jennings doesn't make it clear why she gives up the dogs -- it's the central point of the book. It's a story of successful transitions and, in its own unique, unpredictable way, is inspirational...with a few laughs along the way. Highly recommend!

Perfect for a prospective or present owner of a Border Terrier. I sat with "Lizzie" and read her excerpts! You will only understand this remark if you are in love with this unique little dogs!!!!

Sharp, witty, insightful - Kate Jennings 'is' New York.

Dense with intelligence, Stanley and Sophie is a cute page turner that I picked up and read cover to cover in an afternoon.

Off to order some more of her books.


Dean

As an owner of two Border Terriers for more than 10 years I appreciated accounts of the characteristics and personality traits of Stanley and Sophie. What I can't fathom is how the author could acquire first one and then a second dog, write a book about the purpose and love they provided her when she required it, and then turn them out to someone else. I couldn't have done that to my dogs, their inate loyalty doesn't deserve that kind of treatment; but then I suppose book profits are the #1 priority to a "poet, essayist, and novelist" grasping for the optimal income producing topic "of the moment". Jennings is proof that anyone can write a book, and almost everyone does these days. I won't make the mistake of purchasing a Jennings work again.